Let us turn again to God's Word.
Turning once more to that first general epistle of Peter in chapter
4. I want to read from verse 12
through to the end of the chapter. 1 Peter chapter 4 from verse
12. Beloved, think it not strange
concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some
strange thing happened unto you. But rejoice inasmuch as ye are
partakers of Christ's offerings, that, when his glory shall be
revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. If ye be
reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye, for the Spirit
of glory and of God resteth upon you. On their part he is evil
spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. But let none of
you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer,
or as a busybody in other men's matters. Yet if any man suffer
as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify
God on this behalf. For the time is come that judgment
must begin at the house of God. And if it first begin at us,
what shall the envy of them that obey not the gospel of God? And
if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly
and the sinner appear? Wherefore, let them that suffer
according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls
to Him in well-doing, as unto a faithful Creator. In particular, that First verse
that we just read, verse 12, here in this fourth chapter of
Peter's first epistle. Beloved, think it not strange
concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some
strange thing happened unto you. Want us to consider then something
of the fiery trial As we look at this particular portion of
scripture today, the fiery trial, and see how twice in the verse
we have this word strange. Think it not strange, he says,
as though some strange thing happened unto you. And the word literally means
something unusual, something unexpected, something that is
surprising. Is it not a truth that the fiery
trial is that that the Lord God has appointed for his people
in this day of grace? The Lord Jesus himself says to
his disciples in the world, in the world you shall have tribulation,
but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. And then the Apostle echoes those
words of Christ there in Acts 14. He says, we must, through
much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of heaven. There is nothing strange, unusual,
or surprising then with regards to that that the Apostle Peter
is speaking of here in the words of our text. The Lord Jesus has
said it. The Apostle Paul has said it
again there in 2 Timothy 3. Paul says, Yea, all that will
live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. This is the
believers appointed portion in this world in the day of grace. It is a strange life of faith,
how strange is the course that the Christian must steer, how
perplexed is the path he must tread," says the hymn writer. This narrow way that leads to
life, it is the way of tribulation. The very word tribulation of
course has the idea of being so enclosed, cramped in, as it
were, on every side. That is the narrow way, the way
in which we find ourselves so often surrounded by trials and
troubles. And so, taking up this theme
of the fiery trial, I want to deal with some three headings
this morning. First of all, to say something
with regards to the Christians' suffering, And then secondly,
his reproaches, and then finally, more positively, to say something
with regards to his rejoicings. First of all, the Christians'
sufferings. And this is what the text is
speaking of. Beloved, think it not strange
concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you, as though some
strange thing happened unto you. There is a fiery trial. The fire, says Paul, shall try
every man's work of what sort it is. Whether or not our faith
is a genuine faith, whether that faith that we are professing
is that faith of the operation of God, or whether it is but
a spurious faith that we've worked up of ourselves in our own thoughts. Now all these things are tested
and tried. And in this epistle we see how
Peter has much to say with regards to the Christian suffering. That
is the general context that we find throughout the epistle if
we turn back to chapter 2. And there at verse 20 it says,
What glory is it, if when ye be buffeted for your fault ye
shall take it patiently? But if when ye do well and suffer
for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. For even hereunto were ye caught,
because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example
that ye should follow his steps. or the Lord Jesus Christ is that
one who has gone before and this was very much a life of suffering
and those who are his disciples must follow in that same path. Again in chapter 3, what does he say there at verse
17, it is better If the will of God be so that ye suffer for
well-doing, then for evil-doing, for Christ also hath one suffered
for sins. the just for the unjust that
he might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh but
quickened by the Spirit again with regards to sufferings he
reminds them there in that chapter as in the second chapter of the
example of the Lord Jesus Christ and his life of sufferings and
we see it of course most strikingly there in the opening chapter
where we read remember the words that we have at verse 6 He speaks of the believer being
kept by the power of God through faith. And then he says at verse
6, wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need
be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations, that the
trial of your faith, being much more precious than the gold that
perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto
praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ."
And here, in these verses, do we not really have the exposition
of what we have in our text? The fiery trial, which is to
try you. It's those things that Peter
has spoken of previously there in the opening chapter. And what
do we see with regards to the believers sufferings well there
are some four things that we should observe we see how that
they will be many they are said to be manifold we read there at the end of verse
6 in chapter 1 you are in heaviness it says
through manifold temptations many temptations, and really
all sorts and varieties. When we compare the language
of Peter with that of James, in James chapter 1 and verse
2, that apostle also speaks of temptations, and he uses the
word diverse. Diverse temptations. Manifold
temptations. All of this indicates that they
will be a multitude and they'll come from from different sources
there are those temptations of course that evidently come from
Satan himself let no man when he is tempted say that he is
tempted of God says James for God cannot be tempted with evil
and God does not tempt with evil or there are temptations and
these temptations they come from Satan, who is the great tempter,
how he tempted the Lord Jesus Christ, when after he's baptizing
the Lord, he's led of the Spirit into the wilderness there, 40
days and 40 nights, he is tempted of the devil. And then the devil
leaves him for a little season. But it's only a little season
because he must come again. When the Lord comes to the end
of his ministry, he says to his disciples, He are they which
have continued with me in my temptations. The Lord was tempted
in all points, like as we are yet without sin. All there are temptations that
will come in the way of those who are the followers of the
Lord Jesus Christ. But we have that comfort of which
the Apostle Paul speaks. when he tells us that God is
sovereign even when he comes to the matter of temptations
the devil is no free agent or there have no temptation taken
you but such as is common with man and God is faithful and will
not let you be tempted above that you are able but will with
the temptation make a way of escape that you may be able to
bear it says the apostle now we have to look you see to God
and remember that he can keep us he can preserve us does he
not even instruct us the Lord Jesus himself how to pray lead
us not into temptation but deliver us from evil are these petitions
in that pattern prayer that Christ taught his disciples we have
to look to God and to be aware of his absolute sovereignty and
we are to be aware of Satan and his many devices that Satan should
get an advantage over you, says the Apostle. We're not ignorant
of his devices. We're to know our enemy and his
stratagems. And we have that revealed to
us here in the Word of God that will be of great help to us. There are temptations and there
are those activities of Satan that will lead us into sin his
design is to entrap us to ensnare our feet cause us to fall and
then of course how quickly he turns accuser, he's the accuser
of the brethren accusing them day and night he wants to set
us contrary to the ways of God but it's interesting that the
word that we have there in chapter 6, which is rendered as temptations,
manifold temptations, we read at verse 6 in chapter 1, but
that word is sometimes used in a good sense. It's not only the
temptations of the devil, there are the tests and the trials
that come from God himself. Remember how Abram is spoken
of in Hebrews chapter 11, where we have that catalogue of the
faithful from the Old Testament and Abram of course is the father
of all them that believe, the great exemplar of faith. And what do we read? Hebrews
11, 17, we read of the faith of Abram. when he was tempted of God, it
says. When Abram is being tried by
God, it's the same word. Through there in Hebrews 11,
it's not translated as temptation, it's translated as tried. By
faith, Abram, when he was tried, offered up Isaac. and they that
had received the promises offered up his only begotten Son. Now it's clearly there referring
to the events recorded in the Old Testament in Genesis chapter
22. And if you turn to that chapter
you'll see how it opens, how God did tempt Abraham. But that was not a temptation
that we associate with Satan, it's God trying and testing the
faith of Abram and that's what God was doing there in the in
the Mount Moriah and we have received the commandment to to
sacrifice his son and it was there of course that Abram saw
the day of the Lord Jesus Christ well remember how he says that
Does the Lord in John chapter 8 and verse 56, your father Abraham,
he says to the Jews, Rejoice to see my day, and saw it, and
was glad. What is the Lord speaking of?
Abraham seeing the day of Christ. He's speaking of those events
recorded in Genesis 22, where Abraham's fate is being triumphed.
What does he say to his son, Isaac, whom he is taking with
him, and it would appear he's going to sacrifice his son at
the commandment of God, and when Isaac asks concerning the sacrifice,
they have the woods, they have the fire to make the offering,
but where is the lamb? And Abraham says there at verse
8 that God will provide himself a lamb. God will provide himself
a lamb. and then subsequently we see
that there is that ram that's caught by its horns in the thickets
just as Abraham is about to offer his son he is directed to the
provision that the Lord has made it's the old truth of substitutionary
atonement it's pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ the Lamb of
God that take us away the sin of the world." Oh there, Abram
sees the day of Christ and he doesn't just see the crucifixion,
the Lamb slain, he also sees the resurrection and we have
that quite clearly in that 11th chapter of Hebrews. By faith
Abram when he was tried offered up Isaac And he that had received
the promises offered up his only begotten Son, of whom it was
said, that in Isaac shall thy seed be caught, accounting that
God was able to raise him up even from the dead, from whence
also he received him in a figure. The fact that Isaac is spared
is a figure of the resurrection. of the Lord Jesus Christ. Isaac
was, as it were, there in Mount Moriah, raised from the dead.
Oh, he sees, does Abraham, the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, is it not evidence that
the triangle of faith is something so good and so profitable? And that's just what Peter says
here in chapter 1 at verse 7, "...the trial of your faith,
being much more precious than the gold that perisheth, though
it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour
and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ." In the midst of
the trials, doesn't the Lord make himself much more real in
the lives of his people? All this profit in the trial
because there's that gracious revealing of Christ as the one
who is able to save his people amidst all the vicissitudes that
they have to pass through in this life of faith. Christ becomes
ever more precious. But there are many. Many trials,
many sufferings. And as they are many, manifold
and diverse, so they're also heavy sufferings they're heavy
sufferings at times it's not an easy path but as he said back
in that first chapter you are in heaviness through manifold
temptations the wilder believer feels it the wilder believer
feels that burden that he is constantly carrying with him
here in this world, he feels the burden of his old nature.
Oh, he's a new creature, a new creation in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is born of the Spirit of God. He's a partaker of the divine
nature. He has that in him that longs
and yearns after God. And yet still he feels the old
nature at times. And remember how How Paul opens
that up so wonderfully in Romans chapter 7, speaking of his own
experience. And what does he say there at
the end? O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from
the body of this death? O the old nature, it's such a
burden. As he carries this load about
with him, it's a heavy burden. He feels it, he feels that he's
got that in him that still loves the ways of sin, and he must
constantly be suffering because of who he is and what he is.
He is a sinner, but he is a sinner saved by the grace of God. He's
a sinner and a saint at one and the same time. All the sufferings
of the child of God. You see, there's no perfection
in this life. No, there's a constant fight of faith, the good fight
of faith, the mortifying, the putting to death, the crucifying,
the deeds of the body that we may live. The sufferings are
many, yes, but they're also heaven. But then, the wonderful thing
is that we're reminded there, concerning this fiery trial and
these sufferings, that they are brief sufferings. their breath,
all their transitory, they soon pass. What does it say? Now for a season. Look at the language that we
have there at verse 6 in chapter 1. Though now for a season. Always there, not some precious
instruction in every word of Holy Scripture. every word of
God is a pure word and the language there now and it literally means
just now it means at this moment and then he says for a season
and it's a small season it's a little period of time it's
just a few days there is a certain emphasis in the vocabulary that
the Apostle is using. He's writing, remember, under
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. They're not Peter's words, they're
God's words. Now, just now at this moment,
for a season, a little while, a few days, you are in heaviness. The sufferings are real, but
they are brief, sufficient unto the day. is the evil thereof
says the Lord Jesus Christ, they're real but they're just transitory,
they'll pass away and then also we see that those sufferings
that the believer knows in the trial of faith they're necessary
they are necessary there's a need to be back in that verse in chapter
1. Though now for a season it says
if, if need be. Or they're necessary, that's
why God appoints them. They're good and profitable.
The hymn writer says concerning these Sufferings and these trials,
afflictions, make us see what else would escape our sight.
How very foul and dim are we, and God, how pure and bright.
Or we see something more of the glories of the Lord Jesus Christ
in the midst of those sufferings. They're necessary, you see, for
growth in grace, and we're to grow in grace and in the knowledge
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Isn't that the way in
which this Apostle Peter concludes his second epistle? The very
last words of 2 Peter speak of that growth in grace. There is
such a thing as growing in grace. And what does it involve? It's
a growing in the knowledge That is the experimental knowledge,
learning more and more our complete and utter dependence upon Christ,
nothing of ourselves. All our life is in Him. That's what it means to grow
in grace. And see how James, when he speaks
of the trial, goes on to speak of the profitability of it. This is why it's so necessary.
In the opening chapter of James, verse 2, My brethren, count it
all joy when ye fall into diverse temptations, knowing this, that
the trying of your faith worketh patience, or endurance. But let patience have her perfect
work, that she may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. For there is that that proves how necessary the trial
was, because by and through it there is an increase in these
various graces of the Spirit. The same as we have in Romans
5 verse 3. Paul says, not only so, but with
glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience,
or against, endurance. and patience experience and experience
hope and hope make us not ashamed because the love of God is shed
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. All you see then are necessary.
The sufferings of the trying of faith, the fiery trial are. It's all part and parcel of the
Christian's development. there's a needs-boy but there's
also an if and that little word is such
a comforting word for a season it says if need-boy
you are in heaviness through manifold temptations it's only
as it is necessary when it is necessary it's not always necessary
and how the Lord is so compassionate how he'll never allow his children
to be tempted above that they are able to bear oh how even in the midst of all
these lamentations Jeremiah having witnessed the terrible destruction
of Jerusalem and the people being removed into exile And yet, lamenting
the sad scene that he witnesses on every hand, he recognizes
that God is a compassionate God. The language there in Lamentations
3.32, Though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according
to the multitude of his mercies. For he doth not afflict willingly,
nor grieve the children of men. He doth not afflict willingly. The margin says He doesn't afflict
from the heart. Oh, the Lord God, how kind. And
though we see it, of course, in the life, the ministry of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And though it is still today,
He is in heaven now as that glorified man. In all our affliction, He
is afflicted. This is the one then who himself
suffered and he feels for those who are suffering. What does
Peter say in the verse following our text? Rejoice in as much
as ye are partakers of Christ's offerings. All these offerings, so much
a part of the fiery trial, they are profitable. The Christian then will know
something of sufferings. He must be one who is a partaker
of Christ's offerings. But then, I said in the second
place, we would also say something with regards to reproaches, and
see how in the context Peter goes on to speak of reproaches.
In verse 12 we have the fiery trial. Think it not strange concerning
the fiery trial, which is to try you as though some strange
thing happened unto you. And then at verse 14 he says,
If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are you, for
the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you. On their part
he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. The fiery trial doesn't just
involve those sufferings of Christ spoken of in verse 13, but also
these reproaches. This is part of the suffering
really, to be reproached. And isn't Peter in a sense simply
echoing the words of the Lord Jesus, the ministry of Christ,
the preaching of Christ there in the Sermon on the Mount? Blessed
are ye when men shall revile you, remember that's part of the Beatitudes
they revile you, they say all manner of evil against you falsely
for my sake rejoice and be exceedingly glad for so persecuted they the
prophets that were before you it's part of the Beatitudes there
at the beginning of Matthew chapter 5 blessed are you oh happily,
that's the the basic meaning of the word that we have as blessed
and it's a plural happinesses when you are reproached all these reproaches think of
what James says concerning the tongue the tongue of fire he
says a world of iniquity he is of course instructing The Lord's
people is instructing believers about the great danger of the
tongue. Now that God has put a double guard before the tongue,
there's teeth, there's lips, and yet, how the tongue breaks
through. It's a world of iniquities. And with it, we bless God and
with it we curse man. He's speaking of believers, but
there's a general truth there. Robert Leighton in his commentary
on Peter refers to these reproaches
as flashes of that fire. Flashes of that fire. The tongue
is a fire. The world of iniquity. These
reproaches that you'll suffer, they're flashes. of that dreadful
fire and how the psalmist felt it how the ungodly taunted him,
ridiculed him they say daily unto me where is thy God? where
is thy God? or when the believer maybe is
in some sad spots where is thy God? Satan himself will come with
that question when we find ourselves in the midst of the fiery trial and so often the believer you
see is one who is accused wrongfully he's accused wrongfully but he's
called he's called to suffer in that fashion if he be reproached for the name
of Christ he says happy are you Christ is the believers pattern
and we see that again in what he has said previously in chapter
2 and there at verse 21 here unto were you called because
Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example that you should
follow his steps who did no sin neither was guile found in his
mouth. When he was reviled, reviled
not again. When he suffered, he threatened
not, but committed himself to him that judges righteously.
He's the pattern. And we're to walk in his steps. As he says here at verse 15 in
chapter 4, let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief,
or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters. Yet if
any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let
him glorify God on this behalf. Oh, this is the calling of the
Christian. Again, going back to chapter
2, in verse 19, this is thank-worthy. If a man, for conscience toward
God, endure grief, suffering wrongfully. Suffering wrongfully. or the Lord Jesus you see how
he suffered wrongfully he did no sin he was an innocent man
and yet he must die that cruel death of the cross and this is
the one that we are to follow this is the pattern all the reproaches
of the Lord Jesus how they taunted him there upon the cross think
of the language that we have in that 22nd psalm that speaks
so graphically, such a remarkable psalm. Why, it's full of the
sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what does he say?
Verse 7, All they that see me laugh me to scorn, they shoot
out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the law. that he would deliver him, let
him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him. Oh friends, this is the one that
we are to follow, the Lord Jesus Christ. It's no strange, surprising
lives that we have to live then, the life of faith. Think it not
strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as
though some strange thing happened unto you. There's nothing strange. And yet, in another sense, it
is a strange life in that it is such a paradoxical life. Think
of those words of Hart that I referred to earlier, how strange is the
course that a Christian must steer, how perplexed is the path
he must trek, It's the hymn 309, and it does speak of the paradox
of the life, the strange life of those who are the followers
of the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, that's the title that
we find at the heading of that hymn 309. How strange is the
course that a Christian must steer, how perplexed is the path
he must tread, The hope of his happiness rises from fear, and
his life he receives from the dead. His fairest pretensions
must wholly be weighed, and his best resolutions be crossed,
nor can he expect to be perfectly saved, till he finds himself
utterly lost. When all this is done, and his
heart is assured of the total remission of sins, when his pardon
is signed, and his peace is procured from that moment, his conflict
begins. And what is that conflict? It
is the fiery trial. But here is the paradox. The
believer is to rejoice in the midst of it all. Who is it that the apostle is addressing? He speaks to those who are the
beloved. Beloved, he says, Think it not
strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as
though some strange thing happened unto you." Who are these? Well,
they are the ones to whom the epistle is addressed, Peter,
an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout
Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia. And then we
have a description of them, these strangers, their elect. according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience
and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." All that's Unitarian,
you see. We read of the Father, we read
of the Holy Spirit, we read of the Lord Jesus Christ. All true
Christians, this may boast a truth from nature never learned, that
Father, Son and Holy Ghost to save our souls. We're all concerned,
or how they are the beloved, how the Father has loved them. Again, think of the language
of another apostle there in 1 Thessalonians 1, 4, 4, knowing brethren beloved your
election of God. Rosmargin says, knowing brethren
beloved of God. Your election. Who are these
who are beloved? They are the elect. They are
the elect. But more than that, what does
Peter say of them there in the opening chapter? They are regenerated. Verse 3, Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant
mercy hath begotten us again. unto a lively hope by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead or they are begotten again they
are born again they are born of the Spirit of God the Lord
Jesus says thy dead men shall live they are raised with the Lord
Jesus Christ they are regenerated and they have a glorious inheritance
verse 4 of that chapter, that first chapter, "...to an inheritance
incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved
in heaven for you." Oh, they have an inheritance and they're
preserved. They're kept. They shall surely
enter into the possession of that that the Lord's Himself
has obtained for them. They are kept by the power of
God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last
time. Or they will come into that glorious
possession in the appointed time. As we see here at verse 13 in
chapter 4, that when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be
glad also with exceeding joy. Oh, this is the believer you
see. This is the person that's being addressed here in the words
of our text. They're the Lord's people. And
the Lord himself has made a glorious provision for them. All that
fullness of salvation that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. That
will be their blessed portion. But how do they come into this
possession? Well, in this life they are partakers of the sufferings
of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, there can be no crown
without the cross. The way to the crown must be
through the cross. Beloved, think it not strange
concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as though some
strange thing happened unto you, but rejoice inasmuch as ye are
partakers of Christ's sufferings. And then he goes on, that when
his glory shall be revealed. First of all, there are the sufferings. There's the fellowship of his
suffering. Isn't that what the Apostle Paul
speaks of in Philippians chapter 3? That I may know him, he says,
the power of his resurrection, the fellowship of his sufferings,
being made conformable unto his death. And again to those Philippians,
what does he say unto you? It is given in the behalf of
Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his
sake. all these go hand in hand the
believing on him the suffering for his sake in this world you
see there are those troubles, those tribulations John Newton
says did Christ my Lord suffer and shall I reply? all the believers
lot at times it's a it's a fiery trial it's a difficult pathway
and yet there is that promise of the gracious presence of the
Lord constantly with his people in the midst of all their fiery
trials you know the language there in Isaiah 43 that's exceeding
great and precious promise when thou passest through the waters
I will be with thee and through the rivers they shall not overflow. When they walketh through the
fire, they shall not be burnt, neither shall the flame kindle
upon them. It is the Lord himself who is
constantly with his people in the midst of all their troubles.
All that they have to endure of that trying of their faith,
more precious than a gold that perishes. Think of those Three
young Hebrews, those faithful men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego,
are cast by Nebuchadnezzar into the fiery furnace. What do we read there in Daniel
3? These three men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, fell down
bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Then Nebuchadnezzar
the king was astonished, and rose up in haste, and spoke,
and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound
into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the
king, True, O king. He answered and said, Lo, I see
four men, loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have
no heart. And the form of the fourth is
like the Son of God. Always the Lord Jesus Christ,
you see. It's a fellowship of His sufferings. He is with His
people through all that present life of faith. Amidst all the
trials and tribulations, even the temptations of Satan that
come to those who are walking in that narrow way. There is
that assurance of the gracious upholding of the Lord Himself,
preparing His people ultimately for that glory. Beloved, think
it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you,
as though some strange thing happened unto you? but rejoice
inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's offerings, that when
His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding
joy. May the Lord be pleased to bless
to us His work. conclude our worship this morning
by singing the hymn 758. The tune is Lewisham 678. Sons of God in figulation, let
your eyes the Saviour view. He is the rock of our salvation.
He was tried and tempted too. all to succour every tempted
burdened son. Tis, if need be, he reproves
us, lest we settle on our lease. Yet he in the furnace loves us.
Tis expressed in words like these, I am with thee, Israel, passing
through the fire." The Hymn 758.